Become a Member

We welcome your interest in Bet Am Shalom!

We encourage you to learn more about our community by exploring this website. More importantly, we urge you to visit us in person.

Join us for a Friday evening or Shabbat morning of prayer, singing and learning. Participate in our communal Kiddush luncheon following the service. Experience our Shabbat morning children’s programs. Members of our Board of Trustees and School Board greet and welcome each person into the shabbat morning service. They will be delighted to make you feel at home if you identify yourself as a visitor or a new member. If you would like to have someone host you at a service, please email Ivy Eisenberg, co-chair of Membership Outreach, and she will gladly arrange for someone to meet you.

Throughout the week we run a rich schedule of events and programs: family education, adult learning, guest speakers, youth programs, Shorashim (our Sunday morning program for preschoolers and their parents) and social action programs. Consult our calendar for a schedule of these events as well as special programming.

Our High Holy Day services are open to everyone, as are our joyous celebrations of Jewish holidays and festivals throughout the year.

If Bet Am Shalom is the engaging, progressive Jewish community you are seeking, we are eager to welcome you and to answer your questions. You may contact Ivy Eisenberg, Rabbi Bronstein or our executive director Vicky Farhi.

Letter from Rabbi Bronstein:

Dear Friends and Potential New Members,

My enthusiasm for our synagogue knows no bounds. I truly believe that we are doing something of lasting importance for the Jewish people and for the larger community as well.

We are not a large congregation by anyone’s standards. We will probably never be much larger than we are today. Nonetheless, the people who have chosen to join us (and who will join us in the future) tend to show up often, and in large numbers. We believe we have fashioned a unique place, fueled by the creative spirit of our members.

We come to worship; we come to study. We come to provide for each other’s well-being (in life, in sickness, and in death). We come to meetings to plan and promote our ongoing program and to tend to the congregation’s needs.

We want our children to come here, too, for all of the reasons that make for a vibrant Jewish future.

Our four hundred-plus households truly “use” the synagogue to its fullest. We recently expanded our home to make room for everything that goes on here. Why did we expand? Because we saw that we could either discourage the unbounded enthusiasm for Jewish life that we see at Bet Am Shalom, or we could enlarge our space to encourage more of it. We chose enthusiasm!

Now we want you. We need you. We need you to bring new enthusiasm, new ideas, and new life to this precious undertaking. Come and find out what Bet Am Shalom is doing for the Jewish people and for the world we share, and help us to continue this sacred task, this blessed opportunity.

I hope that you will want to become part of this vibrant synagogue. Please call me so that I may answer your questions personally.

Sincerely,

Rabbi Lester Bronstein

About our Dues

We know that the financial aspect of synagogue membership is an important consideration for many individuals. Our fee schedule is available in the prospective member packets you may request from our office or in conversation with a representative of our Membership Outreach Committee.

As part of an overview of our approach, please consider:

We have several dues categories. These are based on demographic factors such as age and family status. We fully recognize that young adult members, members with young families, and members whose principal residence may be outside the area, have different financial obligations and needs. Let us work with you.

We offer new-member discounts for families with children enrolled in another synagogue’s pre-school program, where that synagogue gives a dues discount to their own members in the pre-school. Bet Am Shalom offers a significant dues reduction per family for up to four years, including a two-year discount on our annual mortgage assessment.

For new members without children in synagogue pre-schools, we offer a 20% discount on dues and the annual mortgage assessment for the first two years of membership.

We do not tie High Holy Day tickets to receipt of synagogue dues or to donor giving levels. In fact, our services have no tickets or assigned seating of any kind.

We work on a confidential basis with individuals where personal circumstances call for a special accommodation in dues. One of the core values of Bet Am Shalom is the belief that finances should never be a bar to membership. Abatements or adjustments to your payment schedule are made on the basis of a simple, confidential conversation with a financial officer. We do not require the submission of personal financial documents. We trust you.

For more information and/or our current Schedule of Fees please contact the synagogue office at betamshalom@betamshalom.org or (914) 946-8851.